On the outside, Glengarry Fine Cheese's The Figaro may not be an obvious dessert choice, but once you crack open that funky exterior, the inside resembles a fine cream cheese. On the other hand, Big Rig Brewery's Midnight Kissed My Cow milk stout screams dessert — rich, creamy and chocolately. It's everything you love in a dessert and a stout. Throw them together and this underdog — a cross between a custard and a cheesecake — won over the panel's tastebuds.
About this recipe
Chocolate stout, cheesecake-style custard with pretzel bark and beer nut brittle Makes 4
7 ounces Glengarry Fine Cheese's The Figaro (or cream cheese)
1/3 cup brown sugar
¼ cup whipping cream
¼ cup Midnight Kissed the Cow milk stout beer
3 egg yolks
¼ teaspoon cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the Figaro, brown sugar and whipping cream into a mixing bowl and using a hand mixer, blend until smooth. Add the egg yolks, cocoa powder and vanilla extract and blend until smooth. Add in the stout and mix.
Preheat the oven to 325F.
Place the ramekins in a baking pan. Pour equal amounts of the custard mixture into each ramekin. Pour enough water into the pan so that the water level comes halfway up the ramekin. Bake custards for 35 to 45 minutes or until they are just set (an inserted knife comes out clean). Remove from oven and let cool another 20 to 30 minutes in the pan. Once ramekins have cooled enough to handle, remove them from the pan and place into the refrigerator. Chill for at least 4 hours.
Sweet & salty pretzel crust
1 cup salted pretzels, crushed (roughly 2 cups uncrushed pretzels)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1½ tablespoons brown sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons Big Rig Brewery's Midnight Kissed the Cow, milk stout beer
Preheat oven to 350F
Place whole pretzels into a food processor (or use a mortar and pestle) and process until the pretzels are ground but still chunky. Place ground pretzels into a mixing bowl. Add brown sugar, butter and beer. Mix until all ingredients come together and form a loose ball (add a splash more beer if you need). The ball should be moist, not wet. Place the ball onto a lined baking sheet and push the dough down to roughly a ¼ inch thickness.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dough becomes dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray.
Beer nut brittle
1 cup salted peanuts, toasted
1 cup sugar
¼ cup beer
1 teaspoon butter
In a frying pan over medium-low heat, toast the peanuts until they take on a little colour. Remove from the pan into a bowl and reserve.
In the same pan, add the sugar and the beer. Increase the heat to medium. Cook the sugar until it reaches a rich caramel colour. Add the butter. Return the peanuts to the pan and toss until all the nuts are coated. Pour the nuts onto a parchmentlined tray and cool.
To serve
To serve break off chunks of both the pretzel crust and the nut brittle and place on top of the custard.
Big Rig Brewery
Big Rig Kitchen and Brewery began as a single brewpub in 2012 and have expanded to include a second restaurant and a production facility, all of which makes them the largest brewery in the city. With the affable Lon Ladell and his 20 years of experience at the helm, the brewery has continued to add clean new seasonal styles.
The brewery credits local support for its rapid growth. "Big Rig Brewery wouldn't be here without the love and support of our community," says Ladell. "This city stood behind us when we first started. Without that, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to grow, and continue to grow into a better version of ourselves. Being able to know the names and faces of our customers makes this job that much more rewarding — it's the people who make this worthwhile."
Big Rig’s menu provides lots of cheesy options, from mac 'n' cheese to poutine with St. Albert curds. Because you can get growlers and cans to go from the brewpubs and brewery, as well as canned beers at the LCBO and Beer Store, you can attempt your own cheese and beer pairing at home.
Big Rig Kitchen and Brewery
2750 Iris St., 115-1980 Ogilvie Rd., Ottawa, Ont.
bigrigbrew.com, 613.688.3336
Glengarry Fine Cheese
Margaret Peters Morris, owner and head cheesemaker of Glengarry Fine Cheese, along with cheesemaker Wilma Klein-Swormink and their team, are a force with which to be reckoned. Best known for making Dutch- and European-style cheeses from the fresh milk of Holstein cows reared on Morris family land, a lineage that dates back to 1967, Glengarry’s cheeses are also well-known on the world stage.
Glengarry has amassed an impressive list of Canadian and International awards, winning competitions at the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix, the Canadian Cheese Awards, The American Cheese Society Competition, the Royal Winter Fair and the Global Cheese Awards.
Morris is famous not only for her award-winning cheeses, but also as an adviser to budding cheesemakers and an industry go-to for cheesemaking equipment and supplies for professionals and the home cheesemaker as well.
Celtic Blue and special Celtic Blue Reserve are made for the masses that already either love, or want to learn to love a blue cheese. It’s creamy goodness, gaining boldness with age. Lankaaster and Lankaaster Aged gouda-style cheeses count among our top picks, memorable for their rich, buttery flavors.
Glengarry Fine Cheese
5926 County Rd. 34, Lancaster, Ont.
glengarryfinecheese.com, 613.347.1141
